“It’s all going to be different, but a lot of it will be the same,” Good Shepherd Thrift Shop Assistant Manager, Glenda Allison quipped. “That’s the easiest way to describe what the new Doggie Shop store in Berryville will offer to the area.”
For most of the summer there has been a lot of scraping, cleaning, painting, demolition and renovation going on in and outside the 8400 sq. ft. building that formerly housed the Carroll County Newspapers offices and printing facility on the 62 Spur.
In April, Good Shepherd Humane Society Executive Director Cole Wakefield estimated that the new facility would be open by the end of the year but warned, “It’s a huge project.”
However, thanks to a lot of hard work by Thrift Shops Manager Janet Chupp, who co-headed planning and design with Wakefield, and GSHS VP and board member Mark Minton, who directed the construction phase – plus the boundless enthusiasm of employees and volunteers –the facility will open ahead of time.
If preparing the facility itself was a huge project, the prospect of moving everything into it from the old shop in time for Thanksgiving was overwhelming. Chupp attempted to lighten the load by starting a sale on Nov. 1 offering everything in the old store for one, three or five dollars. “It was a great sale,” she said, “but not nearly enough left the store.” By Nov. 8, everything in the store was only one dollar – or less.
As racks and display cases were emptied, they were taken to the new store and the remaining merchandise consolidated. Chupp had hoped to have a soft opening on Nov. 16, but as last Friday rolled around it was clear there was so much still to be moved that she closed the shop and spent the entire weekend trying to get everything out before the snow that was forecast for Monday.
“We made around fifty trips running about ten volunteers with SUVs, pickups, and small trailers, back and forth in addition to people we hired, but there’s still stuff left to be moved,” Chupp reported on Sunday night.
The new facility will have lots of furniture, a spacious main showroom, smaller display rooms, a couple of offices, an animal food distribution center and a free-range kitty romper room with a glass wall so shoppers can watch the felines frolic and even adopt them. Setup of the room is being handled separately by GSHS shelter personnel.
The old pressroom will be a sorting and pricing area, and the receiving bays off the pressroom will make it easy to receive and process large donations, especially furniture. There are also plans for a community garden on the two-acre property.
Meanwhile, Chupp hopes to be open on Friday, Nov. 18; but because everything now contained in piles of boxes and bags in the new location still has to be sorted, assigned a space and placed on display, she’s not promising it will happen – but next week for sure.
For the next few days, volunteer help sorting and organizing clothing and merchandise is urgently needed, along with a little more help moving and cleaning. After that, ongoing volunteers will be needed on regular part time shifts to help handle the larger facility. Under a new policy, volunteers can choose either sorting/pricing or floor assistance/cash register work.
Anyone interested in helping for the next few days or volunteering for an ongoing morning or afternoon shift should contact Janet Chupp (479) 334-8097. “We could easily double our volunteers,” Chupp said.
Meanwhile, the community is being asked to please hold all donations of goods until after Thanksgiving when the receiving area will be ready. Operating hours will be 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday at 206 US 62 Spur.